Chapter 1.01 DELVE IMPLANT

Streaming

Friday, May 2nd

Neurolink’s stream was currently being watched by millions around the world. The stream was now rolling montage footage from their past showcases. For this video, a famous voice actress was serving as its narrator. The montage ultimately fades to a photo of a man holding a large metal helmet akin to a pasta strainer. The same narrator continues.

“In 2016, our founder Nicolaus Zavain revealed to the world the first computer-brain link interface. The link enabled sight and sound to be transmitted directly into the brain. For seventy-one years since then, the Neurolink Corporation has been at the forefront of computer-brain interface technology. Today, our showcase presenter is none other than the granddaughter of our late founder and the CEO of Neurolink Corporation, Xavia Zavain. She will unveil our newest groundbreaking upgrades to the Neurolink Implant family and much more.”

The screen faded to the view of a circular room, with Xavia standing at its center. The camera flew around her, always keeping her as the focus, before settling to a spot a few feet from her face.

“Hello everyone! Welcome to Neurolink’s 2087 showcase! First, I want to thank all of you for tuning in today. We have several significant announcements to make. But before we get into any of that, we’d like to show a teaser trailer I’m sure all of you gamers have been dying to see!”

The screen faded into a forest of massive bioluminescent mushrooms. The camera seems to be following the perspective of a player as they ran along a trail. As they ran, the unknown player glanced behind them to see a few brightly colored, spear-wielding humanoid frogs giving chase. A few moments later, the player came to a skidding halt in front of a cliff next to a massive waterfall. Looking back at the fast-approaching frogs, the player then flings themselves off the waterfall, diving into the lake below.

The camera view pulled away from the player’s perspective, rising above to show a man swimming across to the lake’s edge. Before he makes it to shore, the camera again pans to the waterfall and then begins to rise rapidly. The camera momentarily shows the bright colored frogs at the edge of the cliff, before continuing on. As the camera rises past the tops of the giant mushrooms, enormous snow-covered mountains come into view. To the left of the mountains a vast desert, to the right a sea of trees, and before them, wide-open plains. As the camera continues to rise a large ocean comes into the view beyond the mountains.

As the view breaks through the clouds, a deep-red colored Dragon flies past for a brief moment. The camera continues it’s steady rise through the atmosphere, pulling away from the planet. The view settles for a moment to encompass the entire world, then begins rising again.

Evenly distanced around the planet were fourteen smaller moons. One of the moons is easily recognizable as Earth. The camera again comes to a complete stop, and for a few relaxing moments, the only action on screen is of the fourteen moons orbiting the massive planet.

The shot then freezes just before the word ‘Fantasy’ displays at the center of the screen. A moment later, the date “June 10th, 2087’ pops up below it. After providing just enough time to let the information sink in, the scene fades out and then cuts again to a person’s perspective.

The environment is easily recognizable as a modern setting on an Earth-like planet. The player is running, but this time along a street-level highway with abandoned cars dotting the roadway around them. The player spies a large house and begins to jogs over, and then opens a window to climb inside a kitchen. The player rummages through the room, grabbing a knife from a drawer and a broom with some duct tape from a closet.

Making a make-shift spear, the player heads upstairs and into what looks to be the master bedroom. Closing the door behind them, they immediately barricade the room by pulling a heavy dresser in front of the doorway. After a quick look around, they walk up to the window, look out, and cursed. Outside, a few dozen dark figures can be seen shambling towards the house.

Backing off from the window, the player walks over to a large mirror on a closet door. Through the dirt and cracks, the audience sees the player is female. Her clothes look to be torn in many places, and a large bloody bandage is wrapped around her left arm. Pulling off the dressing reveals a festering wound with black lines extending from it. A sudden noise jolts the player. She looks up at the mirror and sees an older woman in a white nightgown standing across the room.

The player spins around to face the stranger. The woman seemed fine, save for the missing portion of her neck. The older woman’s eyes begin to glow red and then she charges towards the player, who lets out a shrilling scream. The screen quickly transitions to a nightside view of Earth above North America with all of its cities lit up. After a few seconds, the lights begin going out like a wave from the west coast traveling in all directions till none are left in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

As the last of the cities go dark, the word “Outbreak” appears over the Earth. A moment later, the date ‘July 2087’ pops up below it. Moments later, the video cuts back to Xavia just as she begins speaking.

“It is my great pleasure to announce we are finally entering the Full Immersion Virtual Reality market space. Or as most call it, FIVR. To accomplish this, we have hired the best of the best to create brand new AIs for the next generation in Delve Implants as well as those AIs who now work alongside in our new game studio. Together, they have created breathtaking new worlds that are so life-like, our beta testers swear they’ve been transported to another world.

“To help explain our new vision, please allow me to introduce to you all, Douglas Saxe, the CEO and Creative Director of our new studio, Shattered Helix!”

A thin, tall man walked into the camera’s view and stood by Xavia. He had a pale complexion, with long dirty blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. He wore sneakers, jeans, and a grey t-shirt with a 20 sided die being hugged by a cat in a wizard’s hat. The words ‘Dungeon Meowster’ printed below the image. Douglas Saxe looked nothing like the executives one typically finds at these showcases.

“Greetings to everyone around the world. Fantasy, our first new game, will be unlike anything you’ve ever played before. And that is because this gaming system wasn’t created just by my team, but with the help of our newest Top-Level Artificial Intelligence. We’ve developed our new AI’s to take our design input and craft the worlds of Fantasy, including its game mechanics. The main world, called Mea, is over eight times larger than Earth.

“Each of the worlds that orbit Mea have their own explorable landmasses and oceans. Fantasy will have over a hundred billion AIs, each controlling non-player characters or NPCs if you will. All quests and story content are crafted in real-time, giving each player a truly unique experience.”

An image on the screen showed a handful of the typical fantasy races; Humans, Elves, Gnomes, Dwarfs, Orcs, Beastkin, along with many new races.

“Fantasy has hundreds of races inhabiting it and its moons. Each race has its own culture, language, and laws. Along with these races are all-powerful Gods that influence them and the worlds of Fantasy. You may also stumble upon less powerful gods and beings on your travels that could be of help or hindrance. Take my warning to heart. Always be wary of their intentions during your travels.”

The next image displayed three characters dressed in different weapons and armor of the typical trinity of starting classes.

“There are no classes in Fantasy. You can train to wield a weapon and develop your own combat style or find Skill Orbs that will allow you to gain skills outside your standard combat-trained skills. The leveling system will also be vastly different from the game you’ve played before. This system uses a mix of western experience and eastern cultivation styles.

The Outbreak logo over a dark Earth displayed on the screen behind Douglas.

“Outbreak, our second offering, will be our first hardcore survival game. Unlike most games, Outbreak will have a defined ending for each region’s server. The game will end for a region when a group finds the cause and a cure for the outbreak. The group of players who accomplish this feat for each region will be rewarded handsomely. The top fifteen groups will receive rewards ranging from monetary to something extraordinary.

“We also have more games in the pipeline, including a sci-fi space epic. Shattered Helix will provide more details as we draw closer to the launch of each game.

“That is all the time I have today. On behalf of the Shattered Helix team, I hope you are all looking forward to Fantasy, Outbreak and the games beyond it.”

Douglas hugged Xavia and walked off camera. Xavia began to speak again.

“Thank you Douglas. Now along with the release of our new family of games, it is my pleasure to also announce our latest breakthrough in the arena of the virtual gaming experience. Neurolink has finally developed an implant fully capable of delving. Not only will the implant allow the user to delve without the need of a capsule, it will also include the new capabilities to enable a full range of the body’s senses within FIVR.

“The new Delve Implants will include olfactory and gustatory systems integration to allow for taste and smell. While inside FIVR, you will also feel a sense of hunger, thirst, and even nausea. These new features will help developers take your gaming experiences to unprecedented levels of detail. And let me say right now, before those of you who only have access to a capsule storm our HQ. We are working with all of our capsule manufacturers to roll out upgrades before Outbreak goes live.

“The next announcement we have for you today is the creation of the Virtual Verse. Users who receive the new implant will be able to create a MicroWorld, their own virtual home on a planet they choose within the Virtual Verse. These personal spaces can be designed in almost any way possible. Users will also be able to invite their friends and family to visit them. We’ll have more on this feature after Fantasy has gone live.

“In addition to preparing for our new player base, we have also been working with the medical capsule community to allow those in retirement to receive a Delve Implant for free. I tell you this because it has enormous bearings on my next and most significant announcement we have for everyone today.

“Neurolink has been able to figure out how to trick the brain’s perception of time and speed it up by a factor of three. This means users in their MicroWorld, or inside the games that enable it, can experience up to 24 hours in an 8-hour delve session. For those already inside or looking to join a medical capsule retirement facility, you can now have a living experience up to three times longer in the virtual world.”

The screen behind Xavia turned white for a moment, then displayed a colorful infographic. As she spoke, Xavia pointed to important bits on the screen.

“The first batch of our new Delve Implants will be released on Monday, May 13th. Those who wish to pre-purchase their new device may visit our website. A lottery system will randomly assign these early adopters one of the first five batches. These batches will contain fifty-million devices evenly distributed around the world.

“Everyone upgrading their current implants will need to wait two to three weeks for the technology to integrate fully. We are no longer using the old system of implanted electrodes. Using nanites, your personal AI will use these to connect to the brain’s sensory systems. Links detailing the new changes will be available on our site.

The previous graphic is then replaced with one listing the various price plans.

“Looking at the display here, I’m sure the first thing you are going to notice is the price of our new devices has never been lower. Without the costly and time-consuming placement of the old leads, we can price the Delve Implant to one-third of the previous versions’ price.

“Some of you younger gamers may have noticed an asterisk next to the student plan. This is because Neurolink isn’t going to just be giving away free implants to those in retirement. Starting this fall, high school and college students who’ve received a minimum GPA of 3.0 from their last semester of classes will receive their Delve Neurolink Implant for free. That’s right. I said free. First-year students coming into high school will all be allowed to receive theirs regardless of their previous GPA.

“Finally, starting next week, Neurolink will be taking preorders. The purchase will serve as your entry into our lottery system. If selected, you will be emailed your batch number and information to schedule the implant. Neurolink aims to have all preorders, retirees, and students implanted within the first six months after launch. We’ll release more details in the next couple of weeks before the first batch of users’ are ready for activation. Thank you all for tuning in. Have a great rest of your day, everyone!”